Title: For Lost Years
Author: SeBriar
Summary: The boys are back after having disappeared for years. They must be up to something, but what? And who's leading these random attacks on the town? It's not the boys, so who?
Pairing: RrB/PpG
Rating: T for now
Genre: Romance/Drama/Family
Details: Ruffs and Puffs are 16, and for the sake of the story as they grew older they developed fingers, toes, noses, etc.
Disclaimer: I most definitely don't own the Powerpuff girls. I simply own the plot and the OC's in this story.
Chapter Two: A Little Good, Alot Bad
Happy Reading! Big hugs to my Beta, Elizabeth Burke! She fixed up alot of the sentence structure for me!
"'There are no atheists in foxholes' isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes.'' -James Morrow
''Why are we going on this stupid tour, anyway? And on a Saturday?'' Buttercup asked, grumpily pulling on her sneakers. It was almost noon, so their escort would be there any second.
Blossom sat cross legged on the bed with her bow in her lap. Bubbles was on her knees behind her, brushing her silky red hair. ''Ms. Carlfer mentioned that the training weapons are based off of our superpowers. It couldn't hurt to give our opinion and see exactly what our country will be using for defense in the future.''
Bubbles smiled, running the brush effortlessly through tangle free locks. ''It might even be fun!'' She said excitedly, putting down the brush and arranging her sister's hair into a high ponytail.
Buttercup smirked, ''Yeah. Maybe she'll let us test run one of the gadgets.''
''Perhaps,'' Blossom agreed, handing Bubbles the bow to put in her hair.
Downstairs the doorbell rang, and they could hear the Professor answer it, followed quickly by an, ''Oh, Christ!'' and a thump.
All three shot down the stairs, stopping short at the sight of a fully grown lion with it's two front paws on their father's chest, pressing him into the floor.
''Er...Girls? Do you know this... lion?'' The Professor rasped, looking up at the lion who was staring at the girls.
''No. But I know that overgrown cat better get off you before I-'' Buttercup paused as the 'Overgrown Cat' raced passed her, tackling Bubbles to the floor and licking her ecstatically.
She giggled as the tongue tickled her cheeks, while her sisters and the Professor watched in disbelief.
The lion sat back on his haunches, watching Bubbles as she sat up. Now that she was at eye level with his chin, she spotted the card he had around his neck. It read, 'Hello, my name is Hayate. I will be your escort to M. Ind.'
''Girls, this cutie's name is Hayate!'' She giggled again when the lion huffed at being called cute.
Butch tiptoed next door, entering the room without bothering to knock.
Boomer slept like he'd been tranquilized; upside down with the blankets every which ways and the pillow kicked to the floor. Butch picked it up, smacking him in the face with it. He woke up, spluttering and flailing his limbs before falling off the bed altogether.
''Where's the cat?''
Boomer yanked the fallen covers off his head, staring at him incredulously. ''Hayate is running an errand for Mom. Is that the only reason you woke me up?''
''Yep.'' Butch replied simply. He walked out the room, dodging the pillow thrown at him and went into the next room over.
Boomer started to make up his bed, turning to the doorway when he heard, ''Brick? HEY BRICK? YOU AWAKE YET?'' Then a lot of fowl language and hysterical laughter as an alarm clock flew out the room next door and crashed against the opposite wall. He saw Butch run past, followed slowly by a PO'ed Brick with a messy bedhead who went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.
Boomer shook his head, finishing what he was doing. Then he went to the kitchen where Butch was pouring milk into a bowl of cereal. He sat down and dragged the bowl and spoon his way, taking a few bites before it was snatched back by Butch. (''Get your own damn it!'')
Boomer shrugged and grabbed an apple off the counter, munching on that instead. ''So what's the plan for today? Mom and Brick will be busy all afternoon.''
Butch suddenly coughed, choking on his Frosted Flakes. He picked up his bowl and began to desperately chug down the milk.
Boomer raised an eyebrow. ''You okay?''
Butch nodded, setting the bowl down with a relieved sigh. Then he rounded on Boomer, who jumped in surprise. Butch smiled devilishly, and Boomer inched away from him.
''What? What is it?''
Butch smiled wider, ''You said both Mom and Brick will be busy, right?'' Boomer nodded slowly. ''That means Jen too, right?''
He nodded again, this time suspiciously. ''What do you have in mind?''
Butch hopped up from his seat, smiling practically ear to ear. ''That means there's nobody with the authority to keep us out of the storage room!'' He said, finishing it with an evil laugh.
At Boomer's blank look he face-palmed.
''The room where we store the gadgets we don't use! Ergo, the room where we stored that giant blaster Mojo left after he got defeated by the girls last month?''
Now Boomer's smile matched his, and the two of them left to get dressed and go downstairs, cackling in excitement.
Two minutes later Brick stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a casual red button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and black jeans. He narrowed his eyes at the empty apartment, where he'd thought he heard malicious laughter. He made a mental note to be on guard today.
The girls lowered to the ground as their escort skidded to a halt, just outside the fifteen-story building. The lion led them in (practically attached at the hip to Bubbles) and were greeted by a neatly dressed woman with brown hair and matching eyes.
She smiled politely, ''Welcome, Girls. I am Jennifer Carlfer; you can call me Jen. I'd be happy to take you to meet Ms. Magnesium.''
As they walked down the long hallway Bubbles quickened her pace to walk in step with the older woman. ''Is this your lion?'' She asked, running her hands through the animal's mane and earning a low grumble of appreciation.
Jennifer shook her head. ''Oh, no. Haya belongs to Ms. Magnesium and her sons.''
''They have a lion as a pet?'' Buttercup asked with a scoff.
"A genetically-altered lion. He was injured when Ms. Magnesium's sons found him and in repairing the damage Ms. Magnesium also changed his growth pattern. Hayate's not nearly as old, or as big, as he looks. But I'm sure Ms. Magnesium will explain better than I can."
Blossom and Buttercup cast an amazed look at the lion at their sister's side, while Bubbles only grinned, as if it was only right that such a lovable creature could be so special.
They rounded a corner and stopped in front of an open doorway, where a blond woman sat, typing away at her computer. She wore a sleeveless blue tunic, black leggings, and white knee-high boots. her hair was long and wavy, flowing down her back and ending at the waist. She had a pair of glasses resting atop her head, in front of a black headband. A pair of black gloves rested one atop the other on her desk by the keyboard.
Jennifer rapped her knuckles against the door to get her attention. When Cathy's green eyes looked up Jen announced, ''The girls are here.''
She stood up, pulling on her gloves as she met them out in the hall.
''This is Dr. Catherine Magnesium,'' Jennifer introduced.
Catherine smiled at them pleasantly. ''It's nice to finally meet the famous Powerpuff Girls, but please call me Cathy.''
''It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Dr. Cathy,'' Blossom said smiling at the praise and outstretched her hand for the woman to shake, which she did. Then she gestured to her sisters, ''My name is Blossom, and these are my sisters, Buttercup and Bubbles.'' Bubbles waved, and Buttercup gave a grumpy 'Hey.'
Cathy opened her mouth to say something, then stopped when she noticed the lion slowly stepping backwards. That was her only warning before it leaped at her, and the girls flinched, fearing he would hurt her. It was unnecessary, because Hayate shrunk down to his normal size before landing in Cathy's arms, nuzzling her neck and purring.
Cathy giggled, ''I trust Hayate made a good escort?'' She asked, barely holding back a laugh at the open-mouthed stare she was getting from all present besides Jennifer.
Bubbles snapped out of it first. ''Yes! Hayate is very sweet!''
Buttercup snorted beside her, ''That evil cat jumped on our dad and tackled Bubbles.''
Hayate had the sense to look reproachful as he received The Stare® from his owner, and whined apologetically. ''I'm sorry. Hayate tends to be quiet and grumpy, but when he likes someone he jumps at them. He just can't seem to understand that he shouldn't jump on them when he's that large.'' She said, looking pointedly at him. The cub hid his face in her shoulder.
''I actually had a question about that,'' Blossom spoke up, earning everyone's attention. ''Ms. Jennifer said he's genetically altered, and we just witnessed him change his size. I was wondering about the specifics?''
Cathy blinked in surprise. ''Really? It was just a simple process of attaching stem cells to the cells he already had that controlled his growth patterns. I simply sped up the process and added some extra muscle mass to help him adjust to his new size. However, I don't completely understand why he switches from being an adult to a cub when the stem cells were supposed to help him grow normally.''
Blossom nodded, fascinated, but this completely went over Buttercup, Bubbles, and Jen's heads.
''One of my son's was also experimenting with a type of Chemical X I was developing at the time and got some on Hayate, which I presume is a good reason for the anomaly, as well as his coloring; Haya used to be beige with a tan underbelly and tail, but now, as you can see, he's black with a navy blue tail and underbelly.''
''That's amazing,'' Blossom gushed, staring at the cub intently, who by now had dozed off from all the boring conversation.
''Yeah, amazing. Can we go on this tour now, please?'' Buttercup asked impatiently. She'd had enough nerd talk and was ready to see stuff get shot at and blow up. Bubbles elbowed her for being rude, which she promptly ignored.
''Of course,'' Dr. Cathy replied, ''We just have to wait for- there he is.'' She said as the elevator 'dinged' and opened. ''Girls, this is my-'' She didn't get to finish, as Buttercup suddenly launched herself at the boy who'd just stepped off the elevator.
Boomer tossed another laser over his shoulder, continuing to sort through the piles and piles of discarded weapons.
''YES! I found it!'' Butch shouted from another large pile. The green Ruff pulled out a large energy blaster about four times his size and set it down in front of his brother.
''Yeah, that's great, but what are we going to do with it?'' Boomer asked, circling around Butch's new toy. ''It's in the storage room for a reason: It doesn't work.''
Butch looked affronted. ''Um, hello? Weapons manic standing right in front of you. I may not know shit about computer hacking stuff, but I sure as hell can put a gun together and take it apart.''
Boomer cocked an eyebrow and gestured to the blaster. ''An average gun, yes, but this is a blaster that came off one of Mojo's largest robots. It's, like, the size of a truck.''
Butch snorted. ''So what? It's still a gun. It's got a trigger and it hurts people.'' He said, floating over to the barrel and ripping off the top. The upper half of his body disappeared as he tinkered with it.
The inside of the barrel began to light up with a yellow light, and Boomer slowly backed away. ''Hey...Butch? I don't think-''
An energy beam blasted from the barrel and through the wall. ...And the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one...
As Butch pulled his head out to stare at the several gaping wholes from where he stood, Boomer gave him a wide-eyed stare. Even now they could still hear the sounds of the beam crashing through more walls abefore fizzling out once it reached the front of the building.
Thankfully they were on the first floor; not too many people worked on this floor except...
Boomer whipped his head back to the holes, eyes widening with horror. ''OH SHIT!''
''What?'' Butch asked, coming up beside him. ''What is it? Did it hit something else?''
''Mom's office! IT WENT THROUGH HER OFFICE!''
Butch paled. ''OH. FUCK.''
Brick just laid limply on the floor, his head turned to Dr. Cathy with an 'Are You Serious?' stare. Buttercup was crouched over him, her hand pressing his shoulders down, despite the fact he wasn't making any attempt to get up.
Blossom had come over and stood on his other side, hand glowing pink and aimed at his face should he try anything.
''What the hell are you doing here? Trying to steal some new artillery?'' Buttercup hissed.
''I helped design half the shit here. Now, if you could please release me, I would really appreciate it.'' Brick said dryly.
''What do you mean by that?'' Blossom asked sharply, leering down at him in anger for disrupting the tour and trying to steal from such a nice woman. (Apparently she had forgotten the fact that he'd stepped off the elevator, not come busting in and destroying stuff.)
Cathy stepped forward. ''There's been a mis-''
''You should stay back, Doctor,'' Bubbles warned, grabbing her arm to stall her approach. Brick frowned, and Cathy started to look slightly distressed.
''But Brick is-''
''Wait a minute!'' Buttercup interrupted, ''If he's here, then the other two must be around some where. This one was probably a distraction.''
Brick scoffed, ''Why would I use myself as a distraction?''
''Excuse me,'' Jennifer cut in briskly; all eyes flew to her, and Cathy looked relieved that someone seemed able to stall the commotion. ''Dr. Catherine may not be one to raise her voice," (Brick rolled his eyes at that) "But I am. Buttercup, can you please release Brick?''
Buttercup looked ready to yell, but kept her mouth shut when Blossom shook her head and answered for her. ''Jen, Brick is a dangerous criminal and could very easily take out the whole building. We have to contain him; his brothers will come looking for him sooner or later.''
Jennifer was a very short-tempered woman, and was quickly losing her patience. Dr. Cathy decided to give it one last shot. ''Brick is my-''
The building suddenly shook fiercely, knocking both Jen and Cathy off their feet. Cathy had to twist her body deftly to avoid landing on the cub in her arms, who was now startled awake, and ended up painfully hitting her skull on the floor.
Brick sat up some as the tremors became more forceful, his eyes completely focused on the Dr. Catherine, who'd been rendered unconscious; Buttercup's grip slackened in surprise as she and Blossom looked worriedly over at the two fallen women.
A hole was ripped through the wall, and Blossom and Bubbles had to duck to avoid being hit as the only one's standing. The beam of yellow light continued to the parallel wall and onward until blasting and dispersing outside.
The hallway stilled. Blossom, Buttercup, and Brick frozen in their places, while Bubbles had used her body as a shield to cover Jen, Hayate, and the KO'ed Cathy from fallen debris.
Seconds later Butch and Boomer came flying in through the holes just previously made. Boomer took one look at Cathy and completely freaked out. ''Oh no! Oh no! We hit her! We fucking hit her! We-!'' Both he and Butch were unexpectedly shoved up against the part of the wall still in contact by their necks, two vicious and glowing red eyes boring into their own.
As if only vaguely holding himself back from ripping them apart in his anger, Brick snarled, ''What. The hell. Did you do?'' Blossom and Bubbles hung back and helped Jennifer to her feet. Even Buttercup was oddly subdued at the display as she checked on Dr. Cathy.
''We...we-I-B-Butch took-Blaster-Yellow...'' Boomer stuttered unintelligibly, but that was all his brother needed to focus his eyes on on his other captive.
Butch stayed silent.
This only irked Brick further, and his face began to match the color of his eyes. ''Are you two OUT OF YOU FUCKING MINDS?'' His brothers, the girls, and Jen winced at his volume. ''YOU COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED HER.''
Boomer could not form proper speech, but he looked adequately miserable and stressed out. Brick let him go, and Boomer tried to reach Dr. Cathy, only to be blocked by Buttercup.
Brick turned back to Butch, ''Well?'' But still only received silence.
''Brick.'' Jen's voice cut in, stalling him in the way only herself and Dr. Cathy could. ''We've got bigger issues right now.'' That was her way of commanding him to drop Butch and get over here. He did so, grudgingly, and Butch 'oomph'ed' as he landed on his rear.
Blossom's eyes widened and she looked at Jen with surprise. Why was she acting like she knew Brick? And why did Brick listen to her? ''Jen?''
''Later, Blossom. Dr. Cathy comes first right now.''
''All she's got is a simple bump on the noggin. She's fine and will probably wake up any minutes now,'' The doctor said. Everyone but Brick breathed a sigh of relief, because the red Ruff was too busy glaring at the wall.
''Can I please have an explanation now?'' Blossom asked once the doctor left the room. ''Why are we allowing the Rowdyruffs within five feet of Dr. Catherine when they're are the ones who damaged her building and knocked her out in the first place?''
''It was an accident,'' Butch grumbled, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived at the hospital.
Buttercup exploded. ''HOW THE HELL DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY BLOW UP A BUNCH OF WALLS?''
''Calm down.'' Jen said, looking between the two. They quieted, but glared at each other angrily from their seats. Jen turned back to Blossom. ''The reason the boys were at Magnesium Industries is because they live at Magnesium Industries.''
Blossom furrowed her brow. ''Why on Earth would Dr. Cathy allow three criminals to-''
''She's our mother, Miss Know-It-All.'' Brick replied scathingly, never taking his eyes from the wall across the room.
We're getting a feel for relationships right now. The action starts in Chapter Four, so bear with me. Hope you enjoyed it!